Wildest Dreams
by youarebeingridiculous
Summary: I said, "No one has to know what we do," His hands are in my hair, his clothes are in my room And his voice is a familiar sound, Nothing lasts forever but this is getting good now Peeta Mellark falls for the mysterious cafe singer.


**Wildest Dreams**

The wind whipped across his face, turning his cheeks from milky white to a rosy red as he starred down at the drawing Prim had handed him. The snow crunched beneath his feet as his finger traced the shape of the hauntingly beautiful eyes gazing at the rosy orange sunset. The wind fluttered the parchment in his hands, the snap of a branch distracted him and a sudden gust of wind blew the paper out of his hands. "Damn it," he muttered, his heavy footsteps thudding against the freshly fallen snow as he chased down the paper. As he bent down to grab the piece of paper his breath caught in his throat at the familiar loopy scrawl etched across the back of his drawing. And everything flooded back into his mind.

_He said, "Let's get out of this town,  
Drive out of the city, away from the crowds_

The first time he saw her she sat on a three legged wooden stool at the Bluebird cafe with an older looking acoustic guitar, the shine of the wood obviously rubbed off from years of use, on her lap and the distressed leather strap holding it up that looked like it had years of stories to tell. His coffee sat forgotten on the small table as he starred at her as she sang. Her voice was other worldly. He was sure the birds would stop and listen to her as she crooned out to the audience with her acoustic guitar.

_I thought heaven can't help me now.  
Nothing lasts forever, but this is gonna take me down  
_  
It took him three weeks of listening to her sing before he worked up the courage to talk to her. He walked up behind her and lightly tapped her on the shoulder and felt the world tilt on its axis as their eyes met. Her fiery mercury gray gaze looked him over appraisingly as he stuttered and introduced himself.

She chuckled, "Yeah, I've seen you staring at me for the last week."

"Well, I didn't come for the coffee," he stated boldly and then scuffed his foot against the floor, "I don't even like coffee much," he admitted earnestly.

_He's so tall and handsome as hell  
He's so bad but he does it so well_

She gives him an almost pitying look and then quickly shakes it off replacing it with a wry smile, "Is that so?"

He shuffled his feet anxiously, "Your voice is so beautiful, I could listen to you all day every day, Katniss," he blushed profusely.

_I can see the end as it begins_

She looked at him closely again, her eyes narrowing for a second, he was tall, his shoulders were broad, the mop of golden hair on his head hung almost like a curly halo, and his brand of earnest honesty burrowed its way into her heart. The smile the spread across her face was more sincere as she reached out to grip his hand. Doing something she told herself she would never do she uttered, "Come home with me."

_I said, "No one has to know what we do,"  
His hands are in my hair, his clothes are in my room  
And his voice is a familiar sound,  
Nothing lasts forever but this is getting good now_

At first it was quick. Anxious needy kisses exchanged as if there was an hourglass dripping sands of time, and when it was up she'd turn back into a pumpkin. "I don't normally do this," she whispered into the sparsely decorated studio apartment. "I don't normally…but…" she trailed off as he pressed his lips fully against hers urgently.

"It's different," he panted, finishing her sentence. His palms cradled her face and his thumbs stroked the soft skin of her cheeks as he leaned in to kiss her again, this time taking it slower. It felt like his hands were everywhere on and around her. They created feelings inside her that she didn't want and at the same time didn't want to let go of. "Katniss," he sighed softly against the shell of her ear as their bodies ground against each other.

"Peeta," she moaned as his hands moved to grasp her ass firmly, lifting her up. Her legs wrapped around his waist as he walked them over to the double bed in the corner of the studio apartment, "God…Peeta," she whimpered as he laid her carefully back on the bed.

"Fuck," he said in a strangled chuckle, "Even your moaning is musical, Katniss."

Her hands paused resting on his button fly jeans and she let out a short giggle, "Did you…?"

"No wait – no don't stop, I'm shutting up – I won't say anything – shit I'm sorry, can we just…?" He stuttered out.

Katniss's hand shucked up his thin t-shirt revealing his firmly toned abs and a trail of fine blonde hair, "Relax," she smiled pressing light kisses up to his belly button, feeling his muscles clench under her. She pushed his up and off his broad sturdy form, feeling his heart race under her palms as she planted her hands on his chest. His intense cerulean gaze made her heart stutter in her chest. This was dangerous. He was dangerous to her.

_You'll see me in hindsight  
Tangled up with you all night  
Burning it down _

After he made her fall apart beneath him, his mouth and his body working her harder and with greater power than any other man before, she sleepily settled into his arms, her face pressed firmly against his broad chest, her legs entwined with his, she knew she couldn't go back. His clothes were strewn around her small room where they would stay for the next eleven months.

_Say you'll remember me standing in a nice dress,  
Staring at the sunset, babe  
Red lips and rosy cheeks  
Say you'll see me again  
Even if it's just in your wildest dreams_

Katniss sat on the grassy meadow overlooking the canyon her simple green sundress fanning out around her on the blanket, her lips red and slightly swollen and her cheeks in a rosy blush from their earlier hours of laughter and lovemaking beneath an open sky. Three months of complete bliss with this woman left him sitting and sketching her against the sunset orange backdrop with a wide pearly white smile on his face.

"Could you look more obvious?" She laughed, picking up her guitar strumming a few cautionary chords.

He winked and her face blossomed in another blush, "Can't help it, I just made love to the most beautiful woman on the planet…at sunset"

"Peeta," she groaned.

"Yeah, it sounded like that, but a little breathier," he teased, dodging the balled up paper that came flying at his face. He dipped his paintbrush into the concoction he had mixed up for the perfect sunset orange hue behind her and smiled again. Her soft strumming on the guitar serving as a backdrop for the comfortable silence.

Twenty minutes later she crawls across the blanket behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and settling her chin on his shoulder, "What are you painting here?" She whispered, pressing a light kiss against his neck.

"Well – " he gestured to it.

"Is that…is that me, Peeta?" She asked in awe.

He bit his lip and cocked his head to look at her, "Only if you like it," he joked.

"I love it," she said breathily.

He tugged her down into his lap, "I love you."

Her eyebrows rose almost comically as he smiled down at her, "I – "

"Let me show you," he said with a passionate fire brimming beneath the surface.

As the sky grew darker and the stars shone down onto their secluded blanket, Katniss curled into his body once again, "I think….no I know – I love you too Peeta."

He rolled over slightly grabbing the now dry painting, "For you," he grinned.

Her eyes were slightly clouded with unshed tears as she looked from him down to the painting and kissed him softly, before turning to jot a few notes down on her pad of paper.

"So are you going to share that song with me Kat?"

She gave him a sly smile, one that he knew held thousands of secrets. Ones she wasn't ready to share with him. They had time though. He felt the soft velvet case in his pocket. They'd have forever.

"Fat chance, Mellark."

_And when we've had our very last kiss  
My last request is_

It had been like a boulder had dropped on his chest when she told him about her diagnosis the night he proposed. The doctor's had given her two years with not much else to be done, she had resigned herself to her music and nothing else until she told him that he had snuck up on her. She hadn't wanted it, but found she couldn't live without him.

He sat at the side of her hospital bed, her frail hand ensconced in his large warm hand. He brought her hand to his lips placed a kiss there. It was cold…too cold. He squeezed her hand and she gave it a small squeeze back, "Stop worrying."

"I can't," his voice cracked.

She set her pen and paper pad down on top of the blankets in her lap, "I'm sorry Peeta," she whispered mournfully. "I should have stopped this…I shouldn't have even started this all those months ago."

"You stop," he said with finality, standing up to crawl in the small hospital bed next to her the small diamond glittering off the hospital lighting's fluorescent hues, "You're the goddamn love of my life Katniss Mellark, I wouldn't be anywhere else in the world," his arms wrapping around her tiny figure.

"Peeta," she said her voice raspy as a tear ran down her cheek, "I love you. In a way that I never thought I'd be able to love anyone."

His calloused thumb ran underneath her eye brushing away the tear, "I love you baby," he murmured in her ear, "I would rather have these 11 months with you then 1100 years with anyone else."

Katniss choked back a small sob, "But Peeta – I don't want you to be alone forever. This fucking pancreatic can –"

"Stop. Stop acting like you're gone Kat. You're not gone. You're here. With me."

She bit her lip and nodded nuzzling back against him, "Okay."

Warmth emanated from him as he softly rubbed her back, "So are you going to tell me what you're writing there?"

She glanced down at the lyrics she'd been writing and smiled, "Not a chance, Mellark."

_Say you'll remember me standing in a nice dress,  
Staring at the sunset, babe  
Red lips and rosy cheeks  
Say you'll see me again  
Even if it's just in your (just pretend, just pretend) wildest dreams_

Looking down at the words his wife had written on the back of the painting he'd made her the night he'd asked her to be his wife. Her own goodbye love letter meant just for him.

He kissed his palm and rubbed the rough exterior of the headstone and whispered, "I'll remember Katniss." His eyes lingered on the drawing he had given her, "Just like this."


End file.
